Happy Mead Day (Part One)!

Good morning, and Happy AHA Mead Day! Celebrate bees and their contribution to the brewing world: beautiful, golden, delicious honey.

What, prey tell, is this coppery lovely you see beneath?

 

Why, this is a Fig Vanilla Mead (fermented with Port yeast and aged on oak chips) that I will be bottling in honor of this day. My recipe/process:

Fig Vanilla Mead (original brew date 10/14/12)

3 gallon batch

9 lbs. Clover honey

1/2 tsp. yeast nutrient

1 1/12 tsp. yeast energizer

Port yeast

Original gravity = 1.100 (oh my!)

• 10/23/12 Racked atop 2.5 lbs. Mission figs.
• 11/9/12 Racked off figs and onto 1 oz. (light toast) oak chips.
• 12/21/12  Racked off oak chips and onto 3 vanilla beans (which had been steeping in spiced rum for several months) and new oak chips.
• 1/20/13 Racked into a fresh fermenter, off oak chips and vanilla beans (to finish). Split and added one vanilla bean back.
• 3/3/13 Final gravity = 1.00 (approximate ABV = 13%)

Tasting notes (per the Brewmistress Log in March):

Pleasant full fig flavor, round and fruity with a vanilla finish.

Aaaand, coming up in part two? I bottle this exquisite creation, taste it again, and explain what the muck on the bottom of the carboy is.

Cheers, and enjoy (or make) some mead today!

Thai Gose

Since I achieved the illustrious rank of homeowner, life has changed quite considerably. Notably, my commute, which has nearly doubled. This is actually rather nice in my book, as there is little better than a cool, quiet pedal into the office. Gives one time to ponder the important things: how to achieve world peace, To Do lists, and new brewing recipes.

As I was riding in one morning, a revelation hit. Thai-inspired Gose! Gose is one of my favorite styles: light, a little salty, slightly sour, and gently spiced. And so much fun to say, "go saaaah". Also, I have found them to be quite versatile. I have done a plain Gose and a Gooseberry Gose. Both turned out lovely, and I was a bit sad when the last drops trickled down my throat.

So, back to the Thai Gose. I will be starting with this recipe as a base, omitting the coriander and substituting Sriracha salt (so easy, so good. Instructions here.) for the sea salt. Also, to be added into the secondary fermenter:

2 oz. grated ginger root
10 Kaffir lime leaves, bruised
3 lemongrass stalks (frozen and chopped)
15 Thai basil leaves, bruised

It will be amazing or a horrid atrocity. We shall see in a few weeks. Now, if the sun would break through the clouds, I could start to brewing!

Cheers, and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Brewing at Clementine Cottage

About a month ago, I allowed myself to finally brew. After weeks and weeks and weeks of nonstop yardwork, I decided to take an afternoon to make some beer. Because I like beer. And I love to make beer. Which may have been hinted at once or twice on my little blog.

Since this would be my first all-grain batch, I came up with a brilliant system. Heat water on the propane-fueled burner, mash in the tun on the shelf, release the wort from the mash tun, and sparge. Easy peasey, right? Bwahahahaha.

After I paced around the scary propane tank for about an hour, reading the nasty warnings about "blowback" (what the hell does that mean? And if it incinerates my house, will my homeowner's insurance cover it?), I lit it up, and got my water to a full rolling boil. Once it was back down to the appropriate temperature, for whatever reason, I decided to bring the mashtun down from the shelf, fill it with water, add the grain, and then lift it back onto the shelf. I did not think this through. 6.5 gallons of water plus 12 pounds of grain equals about 64 pounds. Strong though I am, this is simply not an amount of weight I can handle to lift above chest height. So, it sat on the deck until it was time to strain.

And then it piddles off the side of the deck into the kettle

So, because Brew Day One was a little stressful, just getting the process down, I did not take a gravity reading. Nor did I for Brew Day Two (a Saison with lavender and orange peel). But tomorrow is Brew Day Three: Thai Gose, made with Sriracha salt, plus additions of fresh lemongrass, Thai basil, ginger, and Kefir lime leaves (all in the secondary, except the salt, which will go in the primary). This time I will take a gravity reading.


Cheers, and have beautiful weekend!